Our Philosophy

Festina lente

-make haste...slowly

Friday, March 2, 2012

Shifting Gears

Twenty minutes in the Blue Ridge laundrymat, catching up on wash from the conference and a short vacation/property hunt in Ellijay. In between Columbus and the mountains I slipped down to Valdosta for a root canal, promising myself I would do better with my teeth from now on (if for no other reason than that that kind of work is EXPENSIVE!). Whoo. Not exactly welcome expenses in our world right now. We've found a nice plot - nearly 2 1/2 acres of forest near the Clear Creek area, southeast of Ellijay. We looked at being part of a larger resettlement project on a really world-class property yesterday, but it was just too expensive to be feasible at this point. I wish them the best and I'm sure we'll all be part of the same community of like minds in the region very soon. The property we're in the process of buying is only about 5 miles away from it - so no problem, even at horse-pace...

Time frame-wise, we are working the Spring Folk Life Festival at the Agrirama in Tifton - Jess giving a soap-making workshop, and me manning our booth. That is April 14th, I believe, so look for that to be our last trip south to wrap up our business in Tift County.

We'll be setting up a nice camp on the new property: 16x20 wall tent on a wood deck (that will have to be built), woodstove and Hoosier cabinet kitchen, real beds, clawfoot tub, couch and coffee table on an area rug (all of which we already have minus the tub - please help if you can!). We will be transplanting some nursery stock into their new (and hopefully permanent) homes at the same time, and erecting a perimeter fence. As soon as we have a more solid weekeend in mind for setting up camp, we would love to have any and all help from anyone who feels like helping! I'll post that announcement here as soon as I can.

Good to meet so many fine people at the conference, to hear about such pressing work being done, and we are really looking forward to getting to know as many of you as we possibly can.

That's a nifty idea- sort of a tent cabin on 2 and a half acres. My wife and I have talked about doing something similar. There's a community in a picturesque part of southeast Minnesota, and while we might not directly be members of it, we'd purchase some land nearby, plant a food forest, and spend time there in the summers.

That's the dream at least. Glad to hear you're really living it. For now we have our garden and food forest in St. Paul. Cheers! jeff zhttp://eighthacrefarm.blogspot.com

Howdy, Nicole! So good to hear from you!! Yes, we are well, and really excited about hopefully being off the road for good. It's been too long since we felt like we were home. Wish you could come stomp some cob with us...

Jeff, yeah man, 2.34 acres seems like a nice family food forest to me. The property is sort of a bowl-shaped sun-trap facing south/southeast. A little pond at the bottom is definitely on my list of things to do, but for now there is a small lake about 100 yards away, full of panfish, bass, and hopefully some trout, and a pretty little creek flowing out of it parallel to our property. Top shelf mushroom hunting I'm thinking! I sure like what you guys are doing in St. Paul; keep me posted on how the transition plans go!

By the way, we are closing on the property March 23rd, so look for a formal workshop announcement very soon!

We ordered our big wall tent this morning from Davis Tents in Colorado, custom fit, fly'd, and shipped to us here in south Georgia for $1900. A bit less expensive than anything Nieman Marcus will be offering this holiday season...

Toon

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About Me

Husband, father of two, ecologist, organic gardener, orchardist, small stocker, mushroom cultivator, cobber, herbalist, teacher, and cultural infidel, who lived in a big tent without power or running water in the north Georgia mountains for two years, now doing the same in a simple wooden structure, muddling toward sustainability one baby step at a time. Every now and then I stumble upon something I deem worth sharing. Even if it's just with myself.

Contact

Feel free to contact me in regard to the topics of this blog, or my grant-funded Montessori school project 'Operation Self-Reliance,' whether for speaking engagements, workshops, consultation, or just to chat, at: trippticket(at)gmail(dot)com, or simply post to the current thread. Cheers.